Language and Literacy: Transfer of Learning Between ELA & FSL

This workshop includes:

• Four meetings
  • December 6^th (8:45 am to 3:15 pm, L.I.N.K.S High school, in-person)
  • January 11^th (8:45 pm to 3:15 pm, virtual, individual)
  • March 14^th (8:45 pm to 3:15 pm, virtual, individual)
  • March 22^nd (8:45 am to 3:15 pm, L.I.N.K.S High school, in-person)

Total number of participants: 20
This offer is available in French or English.

Requirements for Participation

• Authorization from school administrator
• Minimum number of participants per school: 2

General Selection Criteria

In view of the popularity of certain project proposals and the number of spaces, selection criteria have been retained:

• A proportional representation of the targeted schools of the two English-language school boards in Montréal as a priority, and of the three French-language school service centers depending on the spaces available
• A representation of the cycles
• The participation of the individual in other offers of professional development (current school year).

Description

An integral part of literacy development in disadvantaged communities is acknowledging and legitimizing students’ knowledge and lived experience. We want students to recognize that their identity, culture, and knowledge are valued and teach them that they can rely on it to engage in the construction of new learning. By activating information, strategies, and skills already learned, students construct new knowledge in another situation or context, known as transfer of learning.

In this bilingual workshop, ELA/FSL teaching partners (or a teacher teaching French and English to the same group) will collaborate to reflect upon the pedagogical practice of facilitating the transfer of learning between English and French instruction. Theory and research will be presented, alongside classroom practices, demonstrating the ways teachers can leverage the presence of two languages and the possibilities it offers for language and literacy development, particularly in disadvantaged community schools.
Using picture books as a springboard to connect language and literacy, these sessions will allow partners to align their teaching practices; contextualizing learning for their students and making meaningful connections in both ELA and FSL instruction, ultimately leading to greater success in both subject areas.

Planning days will be offered between in-person sessions so that partners can plan for, experiment with, and share their own transfer of learning practices. Together, teachers will develop a bank of children's books and lessons that can be used for paired literacy instruction in their ELA and FSL classes.

This offer includes an experimentation that allows participants to reinvest the contents in the targeted program components:

• Subject Area: Languages

Specific and Measurable Goals

• Become familiar with the concept of transfer of learning, how it relates to language instruction as well as literacy development in disadvantaged community schools
• Plan and share lessons to develop literacy skills
• Develop a bank of children's books that can be used for collaborative English and French literacy instruction

Costs covered by the organizations

A Montréal School for All covers the following costs:

• Substitution or replacement
  If applicable, a fixed amount is allocated by A Montréal School for All to school boards and school service centers to cover the costs of substitution or replacement.
• Materials

Costs covered by the school: none

Professional Development Team

Lafortune Marie-Ève, Pedagogical Consultant, LBPSB
Dunwoodie Sheila, Pedagogical Consultant, LBPSB
De Leeuw Jennifer, Teaching Personnel, EMSB – Académie John Caboto
Brosseau Martine, Teaching Personnel, EMSB – Académie John Caboto
Nancy Saltarelli, Professional Resource, A Montréal School for All

A Montréal School For All

Contact person
Nancy Saltarelli : nancy.saltarelli@education.gouv.qc.ca